Simplifying the process for digitizing patient information is one of the keys to successfully implementing EHR solutions.  Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute which has 17 locations across the United States is finding that using digital pen and paper technology has vastly improved their EHR adoption process.

As the organization transitioned to EHR (electronic health records), administrators needed to easily get new patient information into the system. Scanning or typing in the information by hand resulted in a much too time-intensive process. Administrators also needed to make sure that patient health history records were incorporated along with signed consent forms.

They turned to digital pen and paper technology, since it required minimal training for staff and virtually no change in the current process being used by patients to fill out registration forms. The solution interprets the handwriting with high accuracy and provides the added benefit of verifying health history information quickly.

Combined solution from Anoto and NextGen Healthcare digitizes handwritten patient registration information, making data instantly available

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — May 15, 2012 — Anoto, the world leader in digital pen and paper technology, and NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC., today announced that Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute is capturing new patient registration information with their joint solution, resulting in more efficient operations and the added benefit of immediate access to patient health history.

Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute is a referral center that specializes in cataract surgery and laser vision correction. As a referral center, most of the people they treat are first-time patients. With cataracts being an age-related condition, a large proportion of patients treated are over the age of 65. Previously, when patients came into the office they were asked to fill out their information using traditional pen and paper forms. As the organization transitioned to EHR (electronic health records), administrators needed to get this information into the system. Scanning or typing in the information by hand resulted in a much too time-intensive process. Administrators also needed to make sure that patient health history records were incorporated along with signed consent forms.

Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute needed to find a data capture solution that would speed up the processing and sharing of patient data, while preserving the ease and simplicity of information collection using pen and paper. They turned to digital pen and paper technology, since it required minimal training for staff and virtually no change in the current process being used by patients to fill out registration forms. The solution interprets the handwriting with high accuracy and provides the added benefit of verifying health history information quickly.

“I’ve been in information technology for more than 18 years and the idea of using a pen to digitize patient data made me a bit skeptical,” said Robert Jasa, director of healthcare informatics at Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute. “But this solution truly provides the efficiency of electronic data capture using pen and paper while at the same requires only a small amount of user training—which is a big benefit for us as we continue roll this out to each of our 17 locations.”

The Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute solution is comprised of:

• NextPen® solution based on Anoto Digital Pen and Paper technology
• Health history forms which automatically load key fields directly into the database
• Medical image forms that translate provider drawings into the patient’s chart
• Medical consent forms that are ‘scanned’ into the system just by docking NextPen®

The paper forms are imprinted with the Anoto dot pattern transforming them into a temporary, yet very intuitive, data entry device. The information is stored in the digital pen, until it is uploaded to the patient’s record in the NextGen® Ambulatory EHR via USB docking station or Bluetooth transmission. Data is reviewed and approved by the user before being loaded into the EHR.

“Digital pen technology is ideal for patient registration and consent forms since patients can just fill out the forms the way they always have,” said Pietro Parravicini, senior vice president area manager Americas for Anoto. “There are no extra steps required by the staff to make sure the information is digitized and the result is information that is captured quickly and easily, leaving staff more time to focus on patient care.”

About Anoto Group

Anoto Group is the company behind and world leader in the unique technology for digital pen and paper, which enables fast and reliable conversion of handwritten text into digital format. Anoto operates through a global partner network that focuses on user-friendly forms solutions for efficient capture, transmission and storage of data within different business segments, e.g. healthcare, bank and finance, transport and logistics and education. The Anoto Group has around 80 employees, offices in Lund (head office), Boston and Tokyo. The Anoto share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Nordic small cap list under the ticker ANOT. For more information visit www.anoto.com.

About NextGenHealthcare

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., provides integrated clinical, financial and connectivity solutions for ambulatory, inpatient and dental provider organizations. For more information, please visit www.nextgen.com and www.qsii.com. Follow NextGen Healthcare on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nextgen or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NextGenHealthcare

Avantas, a leading provider of strategic labor management technology, services and strategies for the healthcare industry, today announced that it has implemented the full suite of customer service support applications from PhaseWare, Inc. as part of its ongoing efforts to set the standard for the best customer service support in the industry. All Avantas clients using Smart Square®, the industry’s only complete, end-to-end labor management solution developed by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals, will now be supported by the PhaseWare Tracker™ Solution Suite, a customer service and support software application that provides greater transparency into the customer service process with centralized customer support information and live ticket tracking.

Leading Labor Management Company Continues to Raise the Bar for Customer Support by Implementing Best in Class Customer Service Software that Enables Greater Transparency, Enhanced Operational Efficiencies, and Streamlined Communication

OMAHA, Neb. – May, 2012 – Avantas, a leading provider of strategic labor management technology, services and strategies for the healthcare industry, today announced that it has implemented the full suite of customer service support applications from PhaseWare, Inc. as part of its ongoing efforts to set the standard for the best customer service support in the industry.  All Avantas clients using Smart Square®, the industry’s only complete, end-to-end labor management solution developed by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals, will now be supported by the PhaseWare Tracker™ Solution Suite, a customer service and support software application that provides greater transparency into the customer service process with centralized customer support information and live ticket tracking.

“At Avantas, we are not only committed to providing our clients with the industry’s most robust labor management software, but we have also built a strong reputation for  supporting our solutions with the most comprehensive and collaborative technology available as evidenced by this partnership with PhaseWare. By embedding PhaseWare’s application suite into our software, we are ensuring that our customers will receive reliable, complete, and timely customer service support 24/7/365,” said Jackie Larson, Vice President of Client Services, Avantas. “With our flexible SaaS-based software, we are able to integrate PhaseWare’s best practices into Smart Square, ensuring that our entire client base immediately benefits from PhaseWare’s transparency and efficiency.”

Avantas implemented the entire PhaseWare Tracker Solution Suite which includes: ticket tracking and management capabilities to enable complete transparency into the incident resolution status; workflow automation to enable greater efficiency and communications between departments; reporting functionality to track customer service issues, progress and resolution; and automated alerts that escalate incidents according to predetermined and customizable business rules. The application suite also enables Smart Square users to standardize and monitor communications between departments.

“Avantas has done a great job of integrating the PhaseWare application suite into its business process.  We are excited to have Avantas as part of the PhaseWare family and look forward to a long-term relationship,” said Hoyt Mann, President, PhaseWare, Inc.

About PhaseWare, Inc.

PhaseWare, Inc. is headquartered in McKinney, TX. The company provides customer service and support software solutions optimized for the small to enterprise business. PhaseWare Tracker and Self Service Center provides incident management process automation, incident tracking, and resolution of trouble tickets from origin to close, plus self-service and live chat customer service and support options.

About Avantas

Avantas is an Omaha, Neb.-based company devoted to serving the healthcare industry.  Its proprietary scheduling and productivity solution, Smart Square®, is the only comprehensive labor management platform developed by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals. Additionally, its consultation services provide its clients tailored best practice labor management strategies designed to drive substantial and sustaining cost and quality improvements across the enterprise. For more information, please visit the Avantas website at www.Avantas.biz.

A revolutionary VAD Center integrated process management solution

OMAHA, Nebraska (May 15, 2012) – OTTR™ Chronic Care Solutions, an Omaha-based clinical process management and informatics company, announced that they have signed an agreement with Hartford Hospital to use the OTTR™ Transplant Care Platform. Hartford Hospital is comprehensively using these OTTR Chronic Care Solutions’ modules and interfaces:  Heart, Liver, Kidney, VAD, Financial/Insurance, Lab, ADT, SCM, CLP Lab, Allscripts™, Quest, and Heart Demographics.

Part of the OTTR™ Transplant Care Platform includes the use of the TRA module – Transplant Registry Assistant. Hartford will utilize the TRA module to complete and send transplant recipient registry forms to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Furthermore, Hartford will enhance overall productivity by utilizing OTTR Interoperability tools such as external lab integration, transcription, and more.

As a Certified Destination VAD Center, Hartford will use OTTR^™Chronic Care Solutions’ newest module OTTRVAD™. The module is designed to facilitate the management of a heart patient from the point of referral for a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) and continue through post-implant follow-up.  OTTRVAD™ also tracks and assists with VAD-related device and equipment management, registry, and compliance reporting.

“This is a very helpful resource that allows us to even better serve our patients,” said Dr. David Hull, Director Emeritus Hartford Hospital Transplant Program.

Hartford is one of the first hospitals in the nation to use OTTRVAD™ to track their heart patients. Hartford will use OTTRVAD™ and the OTTR™ Transplant Care Platform to integrate with their existing EMR.

About Hartford Hospital

Founded in 1854, Hartford Hospital was the first hospital to be built in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford Hospital Transplant Program began in 1971 with the first kidney transplant in the state. In 1984, Hartford performed the state’s first successful heart transplant and the hospital’s first liver transplant. About two hundred fifty transplants have been performed at Hartford Hospital since 1984. Hartford Hospital is the major teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Connecticut Medical School.

About OTTR™ Chronic Care Solutions

Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, OTTR™ Chronic Care Solutions develops unique state-of-the-art software products that improve the quality of patient care, workflow management, and operational efficiencies for the healthcare industry. The Company’s premier product, OTTR™, was developed as a break-through patient tracking application and clinical information system (CIS) developed specifically for solid organ transplant centers. OTTR™ has been extended to support bone marrow transplant (BMT), stem cell, ventricular assist devices (VAD), and bariatric surgery.

ProVation® Order Sets solution will deliver clinical decision support to MEDITECH users

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – May 16, 2012 – Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that it has signed an agreement with MEDITECH to offer integration between MEDITECH version 5.64 (Client/Server and MAGIC) and ProVation® Order Sets, powered by UpToDate® Decision Support. This integration enables hospitals to author order sets via the ProVation software, then make finished order sets available to physicians in MEDITECH’s Physician Care Manager application through an automated process.

ProVation Order Sets, powered by UpToDate Decision Support, is an easily customizable order set authoring and management solution that provides flexible integration into clinical processes to streamline the delivery of standardized care for improved patient safety, outcomes, clinician performance and regulatory compliance. ProVation Order Sets is built upon ProVation Medical’s award-winning, clinician-designed technology platform. A key benefit is continuous updating of clinical content and medical evidence, including direct links to UpToDate, the resource of choice for more than 600,000 users worldwide.

MEDITECH provides integrated EHR solutions to meet the information needs of healthcare organizations around the world. A global leader in the electronic healthcare records industry, MEDITECH understands the complexities of healthcare organizations and develops the informatics tools needed to deliver patient care safely and efficiently. From large integrated delivery networks to community hospitals, MEDITECH EHR solutions support the entire continuum of healthcare, including physician practices, clinics, hospitals, home health agencies, long-term care and behavioral health facilities.

“The greatest benefits of the integration with our MEDITECH and ProVation Order Set systems are the direct linking to evidence from UpToDate and the timely updates to links and evidence,” said Pam Wetzel, M.D., CMIO, SwedishAmerican Hospital. “The overall effect is increased usability of both systems, and the assurance that our orders can be maintained based on a trusted and relevant source of evidence.”

MEDITECH and Wolters Kluwer Health completed integration work through a collaborative effort that utilized MEDITECH’s interface specifications.  Integration capability has been client tested, with users successfully exporting order sets from ProVation into MEDITECH Client/Server and MAGIC version 5.64.

“MEDITECH is a recognized leader in CPOE, and an integral part of the health IT plans of our many joint hospital clients,” said Mike Haldane, Vice President and General Manager, Clinical Documentation, Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions.  “We are very pleased to have completed this integration with MEDITECH’s Physician Care Manager.”

About ProVation Medical

ProVation^® Medical provides procedure documentation and clinical decision support solutions for hospitals and Ambulatory Surgery Centers. ProVation MD, ProVation MultiCaregiver and ProVation EHR software reduce transcription, paper storage and image printing costs and deliver a high Return on Investment (ROI). ProVation^® Order Sets, powered by UpToDate Decision Support, put evidence-based healthcare into practice by establishing and maintaining standards of care.

ProVation^® Medical is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2011 annual revenues of €3.4 billion ($4.7 billion).

About MEDITECH

MEDITECH has been the leader in the EHR industry since 1969. MEDITECH’s applications unify clinical, administrative, and financial information across the healthcare continuum, including acute care, long-term care, home health care, and physician practices. Today, more than 2,300 institutions worldwide use MEDITECH’s information systems. For additional information on MEDITECH products and services, visit www.meditech.com.

LA JOLLA, CA – Perminova, developer of web-based information systems for cardiology centers, has launched a strategic alliance with LifeWatch, the leading wireless cardiac monitoring service provider in the United States, to expand interoperability between medical monitoring devices and information technology in cardiac electrophysiology.

Under the arrangement, Perminova EP, the information system designed for electrophysiology, will integrate reports from LifeWatch’s cardiac monitoring and telemetry products directly into Perminova’s cloud-based system. This will provide physicians, nurses, technologists and other staff with a single source for patient information. Future development will also allow clinicians to order LifeWatch cardiac monitoring studies directly from Perminova systems.

The integration process begins with data uploading from a patient prescribed with one of LifeWatch’s suite of advanced ambulatory cardiac telemetry and standard cardiac event monitors to the LifeWatch data center. The LifeWatch data center then pushes the data to Perminova’s database to be matched with patients’ individual files. From there, the data is used by EP lab clinicians and becomes part of the health system’s electronic medical record. This entire process is electronic, greatly reducing the risk of human error.

“The strategic relationship between Perminova and LifeWatch creates important benefits for patients and healthcare systems,” said Craig K. Collins, President and CEO of Perminova. “On a daily basis, it will streamline workflow and improve patient safety in cardiac procedures. In a larger sense, medical device integration between Perminova and LifeWatch creates true interoperability, one of the primary objectives in the advancement of health information technology today.”

Said Dr. Yacov Geva, Chairman and CEO of LifeWatch AG: “Integration between medical devices and information systems is a critical next step in utilizing technology to improve patient health and safety. Medical device integration may also help relieve doctors, nurses and technologists of the burden of creating hard copy documentation, allowing them to spend more time on direct patient care.”

Perminova develops web-based cardiac information systems that manage scheduling, workflow, documentation and billing processes before, during and after cardiac procedures. Perminova’s system architecture also supports integration of medical devices and customization of robust data for research. Perminova’s web-based products are pioneering healthcare’s move from outdated client-server technology to modern-and-secure cloud computing.

LifeWatch is the nation’s leading ambulatory health monitoring services company, offering a comprehensive platform of innovative patient technologies and services that help physicians detect and analyze symptoms before they become major health problems. LifeWatch enables physicians to establish stronger connections with at-risk patients and provide better guidance to patients.

About Perminova

La Jolla, Calif.-based Perminova develops and markets web-based, cloud-based software for the nation’s leading cardiology centers. The company is pioneering healthcare’s move from outdated client-server technology to modern-and-secure cloud computing. Perminova products are electronic surgical records systems for cardiology, and they’re more robust, flexible and cost-effective than anything currently on the market. Its products improve charge-capture and efficiency, while automatically producing case reports and billing reports. Perminova seamlessly integrates with existing electronic medical records systems and deploys and upgrades easily via the web. Perminova’s architecture allows integration of medical devices and customization of robust data for medical research and clinical trials. Currently, Perminova EP is used at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and the UC San Diego Health System.

About LifeWatch AG

LifeWatch AG, headquartered in Neuhausen am Rheinfall and listed on SIX Swiss Exchange (LIFE), Switzerland, is the leading healthcare technology and solution company, specializing in advanced telehealth systems and wireless remote patient monitoring services. LifeWatch services cater to individuals, ranging from high-risk and chronically ill patients, to consumers of health and wellness products. LifeWatch has subsidiaries in the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Israel. LifeWatch AG is the parent company of LifeWatch Services Inc., a leading US-based cardiac monitoring service provider, and manufacturer of telecardiology products. LifeWatch is also introducing a new program for Home Sleep Testing of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) patients under the brand name NiteWatch.

Collection of Key Partners Pushes Project Near Goal; Financing Preparation Begins

DALLAS – May 4, 2012 – Market Center Management Company, the management company of leading trade centers and trade events around the world, announced today a collection of new leases as well as other significant steps toward launching the Nashville Medical Trade Center in downtown Nashville.

Over the last several months, Market Center Management Company has secured commitments from many companies across healthcare including information technology, surgical technology, furniture and services. A partial list of new commitments includes:

·         Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) will showcase interoperability technology that enables health information exchange and will be located in the HIT neighborhood.

·         The SSI Group (SSI) will be located in the HIT neighborhood and will promote claims management technology.

·         Humanscale will join the furniture neighborhood and offer ergonomic work tools that support healthcare-specific technology.

·         ergoCentric will present their specialized line of medical grade seating, healtHcentric, in the furniture neighborhood.

·         V Alexander will demonstrate their unique capabilities in supply chain management including transportation, customs, compliance, documentation, and security on the services floor.

·         Remind America, a leading HIPAA-compliant physician reminder service, will join the services floor and will showcase the company’s customized services that meet the needs of any practice.

Separate announcements were also made for each company including additional information.

“We began this project in the midst of uncertainty about the economy and questions about the viability of a global marketplace for healthcare. But companies have had the time to recognize the cost benefits and business opportunities of a center of innovation attracting visitors from around the world,” said Bill Winsor, president and CEO of Market Center Management Company. “As the economy continues to warm up we will add a significant number of new companies and organizations as well as announce companies with existing leases.”

With these agreements the project enters a new phase as it nears important leasing milestones. Therefore, Market Center Management Company has engaged Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain (LBMC), a Nashville-based accounting and financial services company, to advance final plans for the financing package and structure while the company continues to finalize agreements and develops additional services and plans for healthcare trade events.

“LBMC is pleased to be working on this exciting opportunity to bring global healthcare innovation to downtown Nashville,” said Jeff Drummonds, Partner, Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain Family of Companies. “LBMC will be providing a wide range of consulting services including assistance with advancing final financing and investment structure. We look forward to this new phase of the project.”

“As we move forward on several fronts, this new stage of the project will place an even greater emphasis on innovation and the leading edge of patient care that will draw the industry to Nashville,” said Cindy Morris, chief operating officer of Market Center Management Company. “At the same time, we continue work with the first major exhibitor in the trade center, the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), to advance our shared vision of a year-round marketplace of ideas, education and innovation. HIMSS has served as a catalyst for attracting a number of important companies to the project,” said Morris.

“HIMSS will serve as the hub of Information Technology on the top floor of the trade center where we will host technical demonstrations, conferences, workshops, and customer demos,” said Sandra L. Vance, director of global interoperability showcases for HIMSS. “In addition, HIMSS expects to host more than 100 companies inside an interactive exhibit exploring clinical information systems and infrastructure that provides optimum interoperability.”

The Nashville Medical Trade Center is a comprehensive healthcare marketplace that unifies for the first time permanent showrooms, temporary exhibition space, and education and training facilities. The result is a global marketplace for healthcare products, solutions, and services.

About Market Center Management Company

Market Center Management Company (MCMC) is an international wholesale trade center and tradeshow management company based in Dallas, Texas. MCMC and its owner, Crow Holdings, own or manage trade centers and tradeshows on three continents – Asia (ShanghaiMart), Europe (Brussels International Trade Mart), and North America (Dallas Market Center), totaling more than 11 million square feet, more than any other single international company. Within the MCMC trade centers and tradeshows, customers from around the globe source products directly from manufacturers including home furnishings, gifts, decorative accessories and lighting to textiles, fashion accessories, and apparel. The dozens of trade events each year hosted by MCMC are attended by hundreds of thousands of customers from all 50 states and more than 78 countries. MCMC’s website is available at www.marketcentermanagement.com.

Fort Wayne, Ind. – May 3, 2012 – In support of healthcare industry efforts to make consumer access to digital health data a top priority, NoMoreClipboard today announced that its users can download their personal health record information in five different file formats including ASCII, .pdf, CCD, CCR and PHR Extract.

“We decided to launch a ‘Blue Button on steroids’ to give our users choice,” said Jeff Donnell, president of NoMoreClipboard. “While the Blue Button effort embraced by organizations like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Medicare enables veterans and Medicare beneficiaries to download health information, it does so in file formats which fall short of the interoperability standards required for certified electronic health record vendors. We added CCD, CCR and PHR extract formats to our Blue Button module, so patients can download a file that could be shared with an HIE, an electronic health record system, or another healthcare IT application that embraces standards-based interoperability protocols.”

“Like others who have adopted the Blue Button initiative, our users can download a human readable ASCII text file or a .pdf, which is inherently valuable” added Donnell. “Since we have been exchanging structured electronic data with other healthcare IT vendors for years at interoperability events and in the marketplace, we are enabling our users make their data available in formats that can be parsed – making discrete electronic data available for consumption. This reinforces our commitment to giving consumers a portable, interoperable personal health record designed to liberate, rather than imprison, health information.”

For more information on the Blue Buttoninitiative, please visit http://bluebuttondata.org. Blue Button, the Blue Button logo, and the slogan “Download My Data” are registered Service Marks of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), an agency of the United States Government and are used by permission of VA.

About NoMoreClipboard

NoMoreClipboard, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE), is a web-based, personal health record management system designed to consolidate medical information in one convenient and secure location for easy retrieval and updates. NMC enables consumers to share personal or family member medical information with medical professionals electronically; reducing the need for repetitive medical paperwork.  For more information, visit www.NoMoreClipboard.com

Practice Fusion is announcing the launch of its laboratory API tomorrow. A first of its kind, it allows any laboratory in the country to connect directly to its EMR platform.  As you may know, healthcare has been slow to adopt new, and more efficient ways of connecting. Practice Fusion’s lab API is bringing increased connectivity and interoperability to the entire healthcare ecosystem.

First-of-its-kind API enables any laboratory in the country to connect easily to the free Electronic Medical Record platform

SAN FRANCISCO – May 2, 2012 – Practice Fusion, the free Electronic Medical Record (EMR) company, today announced the launch of its new lab API, which allows any laboratory in the country to connect directly to the EMR. The lab API –first of its kind in the health sector – enables rapid deployment of new laboratory connections that would ordinarily take weeks or months to establish, giving over 150,000 medical professionals easy access to their local commercial, hospital and private laboratories. Practice Fusion already has 70 labs signed up for connectivity with the help of the new API.

“The process couldn’t have been easier and the Practice Fusion team was highly responsive in handling our feedback,” said Anita Miles, Executive Director at GYN PATH Services in Texas.  “This kind of innovation and service is exactly what is needed to digitalize the lab integration process and improve the entire healthcare ecosystem.”

Key highlights:

• Practice Fusion’s Lab API allows laboratories  to connect to the EMR platform instantly with almost no turnaround time
• Labs can use the API connection to instantly send lab results to Practice Fusion users with  standard HL7 data files
• Any commercial laboratory -including clinical, pathology, reference and hospital systems – can send lab results to users directly within the EMR
• Minimal development is required from the lab and Practice Fusion offers free integration support
• Over 150,000 medical providers using the EMR can connect to their national and regional labs of choice at no cost

Doctors are increasingly receiving electronic lab results with the help of EMRs, abandoning old fax-based transmissions that can result in increased downtime or errors.  More than 10 billion laboratory tests are performed in the US each year and tests are essential to the prognosis and treatment of chronic conditions. While the cost of independent lab integration can typically range from $1,000 to $2,000 per physician, Practice Fusion provides connections to labs at no cost to them.

Practice Fusion is using input from the user community and partner organizations to continue improving the design and functionality of the service. All upcoming features, upgrades and new laboratory integrations will remain free for providers.

Labs interested in connecting to Practice Fusion’s EMR should contact Erica Martinez at emartinez@practicefusion.com or request more information online. Physicians interested in signing up for the free EMR should visit http://www.practicefusion.com

About Practice Fusion

Practice Fusion provides a free, web-based EMR system to physicians. With medical charting, scheduling, e-prescribing (eRx), lab integrations, referral letters, Meaningful Use certification, unlimited support and a Personal Health Record for patients, Practice Fusion’s EMR addresses the complex needs of today’s healthcare providers and disrupts the health IT status quo. Practice Fusion is the fastest growing Electronic Medical Records community in the country with more than 150,000 users serving 35 million patients. The company closed a $23 million Series B round of financing led by Founders Fund in 2011. For more information about Practice Fusion, please visit http://www.practicefusion.com.

“PDR Certified” Sets Minimum Standards for EHR Drug Safety

MONTVALE, NJ – May 8, 2012 – PDR Network and the not-for-profit iHealth Alliance today announced a new drug safety certification program for electronic health record (EHR) and ePrescribing platforms designed to improve drug and patient safety, and reduce provider liability. The certification will allow healthcare providers to quickly and easily understand if minimum drug safety information and services are available in the EHR system they are selecting for purchase or using with their patients.

The new certification program – “PDR Certified” – will have standards set by the iHealth Alliance, a not-for-profit board made up of executives from U.S. medical societies, professional liability carriers, patient safety groups and liaison members from the federal government. PDR Network will administer the program and has provided the Alliance the use of its well-recognized brand for the new EHR drug safety certification.

“The use of EHRs and electronic prescribing has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by large federal and industry incentives,” explained Nancy Dickey, M.D., the Chair of the iHealth Alliance and former American Medical Association (AMA) President. “It is vitally important that these systems include standards for drug safety functionality, and that these standards are easy for busy physicians to identify and understand – fortunately these goals are shared widely and are in sync with those called for by the FDA.”

The certification criteria are modeled after the FDA’s recently discussed goals for drug safety services in EHRs. Earlier this year Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director of the FDA – Center for Drug Evaluation Research, noted that EHRs have the potential to advance drug safety and efficacy, outlining four key areas of particular importance:

1.    Ensuring that full and up-to-date FDA-approved labeling is available in all EHRs,

2.    Delivering time-sensitive alerts, warnings and REMS programs at the point of ePrescribing,

3.    Integrating adverse drug event reporting into EHRs and other health IT systems, and;

4.    Providing better quality drug information and adherence tools for patients from their doctor’s and via EHR patient portal.

“Access to full FDA labeling combined with timely delivery of drug alerts is critical to drug safety in any environment but particularly in EHRs which play such a large and growing role in care delivery today,” said David Troxel, M.D., Medical Director of The Doctors Company, which insures over  71,000 U.S. physicians. “PDR Certification will provide an easy to recognize way for our physician members, and all U.S. providers, to know if the system they are using or evaluating lives up to these drug safety standards.”

“We appreciate the demands placed on healthcare professionals and want to provide the tools necessary to provide optimal patient care,” said Michael Stearns, MD, CPC, CFPC™, President and Chief Executive Officer of e-MDs, Inc. “We strongly support the PDR Certified program and the tenants of this program established by the FDA. They are consistent with our longstanding and deep commitment to patient safety.”

“We are very excited to be working with the iHealth Alliance and over a dozen of our EHR partners in bringing this important drug safety initiative to life,” stated Edward Fotsch, MD, CEO of PDR Network. “Selecting, understanding and learning to use an EHR are all important, but can be complicated. The PDR Certified shield makes identifying an EHR with recognized essential drug safety services quick and simple.”

“Partnering with PDR Network will allow us to quickly and easily implement new tools to enhance our EHR offering to deliver a better end user experience,” noted Jon Bertman, MD, FAAFP – Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AmazingCharts.com, Inc. “We are proud to become PDR Certified as the designation recognizes our compliance with the FDA’s goal in providing the best tools available to healthcare professionals while protecting the privacy of our clinicians and their patients.”

About the PDR Certified Program 

The iHealth Alliance in collaboration with PDR Network has developed the PDR Certified program to recognize EHRs that meet minimum drug safety standards. To be “PDR Certified” an EHR vendor will need to integrate key features and functionality to their EHR products including:

1.    Full FDA Labeling

2.    Drug Alerts and Warnings (Safety Alerts, Boxed Warnings, Recalls and REMS Communications)

3.    Adverse Drug Event Reporting

4.    FDA-compliant patient education or support services

Once PDR Certified, an EHR vendor may display the “PDR Certified” logo within its EHR, on its web site and in promotional materials indicating to existing and prospective customers that it complies with these important patient and drug safety standards. The FDA has noted that EHRs offer the opportunity to occupy and empower a central role in improving drug safety and efficacy–both in delivering and collecting information at the point of care– and thereby improving patient safety and reducing prescriber liability. For more information on the PDR Certified program, please visit, www.PDRCertified.org.

About PDR Network

PDR Network, LLC is the leading distributor of FDA-approved drug labeling, safety and REMS information, as well as medication adherence and product support programs, through Physicians’ Desk Reference® (“PDR”) suite of print and digital services. PDR Network provides innovative products and services to deliver industry-leading content across channels, including PDR.net®, mobilePDR®, PDR®3D™ and directly through its extensive network of electronic health record partners. For more information, visit www.pdrnetwork.com.

About the iHealth Alliance

The iHealth Alliance is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to protect the interests of patients and providers as healthcare increasingly adopts electronic systems in patient care. iHealth Alliance board members include senior executives from U.S. medical societies, professional liability carriers, patient safety groups and liaison representatives from the FDA. For more information, visit www.ehrevent.org/mission.html.

About The Doctors Company

Founded by doctors for doctors in 1976, The Doctors Company (www.thedoctors.com) is relentlessly committed to advancing, protecting, and rewarding the practice of good medicine. The Doctors Company is the nation’s largest insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability, with 71,000 members, $4 billion in assets, and an A rating from both A.M. Best Company and Fitch Ratings.

About e-MDs

e-MDs is a leading developer of integrated electronic health records and practice management software for physician practices and enterprises. Founded and actively managed by physicians, the company is an industry leader for usable, connected software that enables physician productivity and clinical excellence. e-MDs software has received continual top rankings in physician and industry surveys including those conducted by members of the American Academy of Family Physicians, KLAS®, and AmericanEHR™ Partners. e-MDs has a proven track record of positioning clients for success as demonstrated by Meaningful Use attainment in 2011. e-MDs clients attained the highest attestation proportion among all major vendors as of January 24, 2012. For more information, please visit www.e-mds.com.

About AmazingCharts

AmazingCharts.com provides Electronic Health Records (EHR/EMR) and services to small healthcare practices. Amazing Charts Version 6 is ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 Certified for Meaningful Use. Based on its number one ratings for usability, fair pricing, and overall user satisfaction, the Amazing Charts EHR is used by 5,000 practices nationwide. Founded in 2001 by a practicing family physician, AmazingCharts.com, Inc. is headquartered at 650 Ten Rod Rd., Suite 12, North Kingstown, RI 02852, 1-866-382-5932. For more information, please visit AmazingCharts.com.

System Optimization Will Enhance Care and Streamline Workflow

Andover, Mass., and Hackensack, N.J. – Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG,  AEX: PHI) and Vidyo are collaborating to offer health system providers an approach for extending telehealth solutions across the enterprise to improve patient care and clinician workflow while also reducing costs. Enterprise-wide deployment of these next-generation telehealth services will require scalable and flexible advanced video technology to adapt to the full range of clinical workstations and mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Philips enterprise telehealth solutions will incorporate remote physiologic monitoring, advanced clinical decision support, and Vidyo’s Adaptive Video Layering Technology™, into a powerful clinical platform for communications and collaboration. This interoperable platform, based on the proven eICU® program, will aggregate clinical informatics solutions designed to improve the quality of patient care, and key performance indicators such as patient mortality, length of stay, hospital-acquired infections, and hospital readmissions across health system enterprises.

“We are excited to collaborate with Vidyo to leverage its cutting-edge telepresence technologies to enhance the flexibility and scalability of our telehealth solutions,” said Mike Mancuso, senior vice president & general manager, Enterprise Patient Informatics Solutions and Patient Monitoring Systems, for Philips Healthcare. “Philips is committed to working with industry leaders to better address healthcare needs by expanding telehealth services beyond the ICU, as well as externally to remote clinics, physician offices, and into the home.”

Vidyo’s unique Adaptive Video Layering Technology dynamically optimizes the video for each endpoint.  By continuously monitoring the performance of the underlying network and capabilities of endpoint devices, video streams are adapted in real-time to optimize communications.   The Vidyo Application Programming Interface (API) supports greater customization and integration of telehealth solutions into clinical work flows.  Additionally, solutions can be deployed on both private and public networks, using standard off-the-shelf hardware — allowing for simple, cost-effective implementation and maintenance.

“The collaboration between Philips and Vidyo is not only a boon to our respective companies, but to the telehealth industry, in general,” said Dr. Amnon Gavish, Vidyo’s Senior VP of Vertical Solutions. “Telehealth has now come of age, driven by global demand and, in the U.S., empowered by new laws and legislation like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). There is an ever-increasing need for easier access to affordable, high-quality telehealth which the Philips-Vidyo platform will uniquely satisfy. Healthcare providers and patients alike will benefit from this solution’s extremely natural interaction experience, enabled by the very low latency of Vidyo’s technology. This high-quality experience enhances the remote physician – patient interaction, promoting a higher level of patient trust.”

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “sense and simplicity.” Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 122,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 22.6 billion in 2011, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Vidyo, Inc.

Vidyo, Inc., pioneered Personal Telepresence enabling natural, HD multi-point videoconferences on tablets and smart phones, PCs and Macs, room systems, gateways that interoperate with H.323 and SIP endpoints, telepresence solutions and affordable cloud-based broadcast solutions.  Vidyo for Healthcare™ eliminates the access, performance and cost issues of traditional systems that require expensive MCU equipment and dedicated QoS.  With its amazing quality, unmatched accessibility and market-shifting cost-efficiency, Vidyo for Healthcare (see video) provides hospitals, specialized medical centers and physician clinics with low latency telepresence-quality video conferencing from any mobile, desktop or room-based endpoint over the Internet, WiFi and 4G networks.  Vidyo delivers end-to-end encryption, provides HIPAA-compliant security, and easily integrates into existing healthcare environments with support for a variety of medical devices and interoperability with existing conferencing infrastructure. Learn more at www.vidyo.com, on the Blog or follow @vidyo on Twitter.

The VIDYO logo is a registered trademark of Vidyo, Inc.  VIDYO and the trademarks of the VIDYO family of products are trademarks of Vidyo, Inc.  eICU is a registered trademark  of Philips.  All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.